The dark and mysterious bedrooms of our childhoods most definitely inform our fears in adulthood.
The eclectic Hannah Neurotica, founder of Women in Horror Month, proves this point with visual acuity in her new short film Letting.
Letting, which is receiving its proper premiere at the “Horror Happens Film Showcase Presents: A Celebration of Women in Horror” at the Camp Jefferson Theater in Lake Hopatcong, New Jersey, is sure to be hitting plenty of conventions and film festivals in the near future.
Frank Fox’s O Feet Away is a nifty little thriller in the tradition of When a Stranger Calls and the opening moments of Scream. Using the queer community’s obsession with hook-up apps as a focus point, Fox’s short film features moments of shadowy tension and fine performances from Max Cutler, as Chase, the piece’s (annoyed then fretful) final guy, and Matt Harrison as a mysterious stranger.
Fox, also, uses sound as a powerful method of communication here. As Chase’s phone rapidly beeps from a stranger’s increasingly invasive missives, viewers’ nerves are slowly frayed.
You can check out this 9 minute excursion in suspense at:
Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!
Simple, straightforward and spooky, Finnish singer Mirel Wagner’s songs are definitely influenced by her love of horror and old folk balladry. (In fact, she revealed, in one interview, that the atmospheric Night of the Hunter is one of her favorite films.)
Accordingly, When the Cellar Children See the Light of Day, her Sub Pop debut, is full of quiet, frightful ruminations, with The Dirt being one of the most effective.
Things can look new again – even at 82! Oscar winner Joel Grey, well past his 7th decade, has officially come out and the world, for the past few days, has been abuzz with this (somewhat unexpected) news.
Best known for his musical performances in shows such as George M and Chicago, Grey, also, has a bit of a horror pedigree due to his appearances on such fright flecked television offerings as Night Gallery and Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. On Buffy, his portrayal of Doc, a seemingly kindly practitioner of dark magic, was one of the subtle highlights of the show’s 5th season.
Buffy
Of course, even without those credits, Grey’s award winning portrayal of the ghoulishly comic Master Of Ceremonies in (the stage and screen versions of) Cabaret should have endeared him to terror fans, everywhere. A seeming precursor to Tim Curry’s Frank-N-Furter from The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Grey’s best known role is a wickedly impish delight. In fact, that glint in Grey’s eye makes one believe that this most theatrical creation could give you as much trouble in an alley as any quip quoting Freddy, lumbering Jason or revved up Mrs. Voorhees!
Formula is good for babies and genre fans, but eventually we all outgrow it. While, current (very successful) cheese fest The Boy Next Door does offer some nice reverse fetishism with hunky Ryan Guzman being the prime target of the film’s voyeuristic gaze, it also provides an expected trope (along with its deliriously fun plot holes and frequently unbelievable circumstances) that probably needs to change. Like many thrillers before it, including such offerings as The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, The Juror and this fall’s No Good Deed, Claire, the beleaguered heroine of The Boy Next Door, has a sassy best friend (spoiler alert!) who meets an unfortunate end at the hands of the film’s twisted villain. Here, just like the ladies in the previous flicks, this friend, a high school vice principal played with sarcastic warmth by Kristin Chenoweth, is successful, highly sexual and single. Just like the heroines in the other features, this is the complete opposite of Claire (Jennifer Lopez), a mother whom, despite expected flaws and one questionable mistake, is truly struggling to come to grips with her seemingly shattered family life. While this devise does have some practical purposes, including presenting an extreme sense of emotional resolve for the primary victim, one has to wonder what kind of picture this actually paints. A moment’s contemplation produces the thought that the creators of these vehicles, whether intentionally or unintentionally, are telling us that any woman who doesn’t want a traditional family unit, who wants to thoroughly explore her sexuality and thumb her nose at the patriarchy by having a profitable career, deserves to die. This notion comes off as especially grievous in the case of Someone’s Watching Me, a 1978 John Carpenter directed television film, in which the wise cracking bestie is, also, a lesbian, played with forthright dignity by genre icon Adrienne Barbeau. (Interestingly, Guzman’s habitual nakedness along with the combined presences of Chenoweth, an acclaimed Broadway performer, and Lopez, a fashion icon and diva with multiple club hits, seemingly nods in the direction of The Boy Next Door achieving a healthy gay following, something the producers, in a progressive moment, must have seemingly intended.) Granted, when all is said and done, the murder of the vibrant companion is such an established element now, that some audience members may feel let down if it doesn’t occur. But, in all honesty, it couldn’t be too hard to change the demographics of said character to something less predictable and less, dare I say it, offensive. Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan! http://www.facebook.com/biggayhorrorfan
Pestilence ridden floods, 7-11’s with exploding dairy products…I would, gladly, follow Jesse Metcalfe just about anywhere.
So, obviously I am thrilled that Metcalfe, whose other terror credits include Insanitarium and The Tortured, is taking on the zombie hordes in the upcoming Dead Rising: Watchtower, based upon the popular video game series.
The trailer for the upcoming flick, which begins streaming on Sony’s video service, Crackle, in March, actually looks like a lot of fun.
In the meantime, be sure to get exclusive updates (and other cool stuff) at:
Multiple voices are not so good when your various personalities start fighting over what to have for dessert. But, in the case of Glitterwolf’s Halloween Special Edition, edited by Matt Cresswell, multiple voices are, indeed, all welcome as they give us a truly splendid variety of chills and thrills.
Packaged between the hauntingly unique photography of Jason Grim, this collection contains a number of intriguing poems, highlighted by Kat Soini’s simple yet immensely potent offerings, Overture and Corpus Delicti. The meat of the volume, though, is contained within its very individualized short stories.
While Carlton D. Fisher’s chewy Another Night at the Reiko gives us a fervently sexual take on zombies and bar culture, Lou Dellaguzzo’s intriguing Night of the Bogie Men explores the real life horrors of gay night life in the Stonewall era. Steve Berman’s fine Passion, Like A Voice – That Buds, also, details the more personally horrific with a look at viruses and the human body through a beguiling sexual lens.
Meanwhile, if Lovecraft is more your ideal, then Evan J. Peterson’s emotionally and physically graphic A Different Seed should fill you up with gooey strands of pleasure. Young Inside, by Patrick Pink, also, ups the psychological quotient with a well inked possession style tale with a distinctly unsettling vibe.
Nicely, even some of the weaker tales contain some finely layered characterization and sophisticated ideas. Amy Sheperd’s nicely calibrated Haunted may the best of the bunch, though. A tender story of ghosts and letting go of the past, Sheperd creates characters and situations that almost anyone can relate to.
H. G. Wells probably never planned on this! But, that old pervert probably would have liked it! Trying to reinvent herself after years of Motown servitude, Diana Ross’ musical career on RCA records included an eclectic mix of operatic pop ballads (All of You), covers (Why Do Fools Fall in Love?) and sassy odes to sexuality (Muscles).
Astute horror freaks, though, know she got maximum mileage out of terror classic The Island of Dr. Moreau with Eaten Alive, the title track of her 1985 release.
…and while Joseph Gian, Ross’ co-star in the video, is probably best known for his work as Det. Tom Ryan on Knots Landing, he, also, has a couple horror credits on his resume with roles in The Night Stalker (1987) and Godzilla: The Series. He is, also, rumored to have joined the cast of the upcoming But Deliver Us From Evil, a film that details what happens when a demon succubus begins wiping out the male population of New York. Hmm…I bet he’s now glad that the divine Miss Ross gave him a little practice, all those years ago!
Vinyl layout coolness!
Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!
Are you having an Up All Night with Rhonda Shear flashback? Well, you should be! One of the famed and original queens of scream, the eternally divine Deborah Dutch (Sorority Girls and the Creature from Hell, Hard to Die, Vice Academy series), has been working on her dream project The Hollywood Warrioress (with a variety of behind-the-scenes contributors) for over the past year.
While the film, a combination of super heroine vengeance, horror and action, has shot most of its footage in (and around) LA, the East Coast and Midwest have, also, been used as locations. In fact, one very chilly March day in 2014, I gathered with Chicago director and terror entrepreneur Chad Hawks to shoot a newsroom sequence for the film.
Was I excited? Sure! But, in a special case of behind-the-scenes madness, I almost didn’t make it to the studio where we shot. Like most creative types, I have a primary job that serves as my (ahem!) financial oasis. So, while I was finishing up my shift for the day, Chad set up the space. Needless to say, after I left work, I was totally unable to find a cab to get me to the location. As I set about to call one, my phone, naturally, died due to the (suddenly excessive) Midwest wind chill. Frantic, I ran back to my place of employment, plugged the phone in and tried to summon a cab from there. I couldn’t get through to a single cab company! I got in contact with Chad and we, quickly, decided that I’d take a nearby bus to a certain street where he would pick me up. He urged me to keep my phone on, as well, just in case he decided to come fetch me in route. It turns out we only had the filming space for a certain amount of time.
I schlepped onto the bus with my backpack and (by now drooping) garment bag…where my phone promptly died again. Defeated, I turned it off, completely. Then, after, excitedly, getting off at the wrong stop and promptly hopping back onto the bus again, I flicked on my phone and discovered it had powered up again. At that very second, it rang. It was Chad. He was in his car, directly behind us. Flustered and unkempt, I hopped off that dusty yellow chariot at the next stop and got into Chad’s black sedan. After offering profuse apologies, we rushed onward.
At the spot, I discovered, once again, what a consummate professional and total trouper Chad is. Not only was the green screen we were going to film against ready to go, but he also had to help me make costume choices and style my recently cut hair into something I was (at least vaguely) happy with. He then allowed me to pound through the very florid, very fun dialogue a couple of times as a warm-up and then we set to filming. We worked through the material in a variety of tempos and Chad added a few, interesting visual flourishes. After checking to make sure the different takes all had sound, we then broke the set down and headed out for a much needed dinner celebration.
Now, would I have liked it much better, on the day itself, if everything had gone a bit more smoothly? Sure. But, as a writer type, I sure do love having a good story to tell and, with a year’s distance, I now can say I wouldn’t have had it any other way!
You can get a sneak peek at some of our efforts at:
Be sure to follow The Hollywood Warrioress, which recently had a highly successful preview showing in LA, at https://www.facebook.com/hollywoodwarrioress. More screening dates should be announced soon.
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